Karen Parko, MD

Title(s)Research Associate, Neurology
SchoolSchool of Medicine
Address4150 Clement St
San Francisco CA 94121
Phone415-221-4810
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    Other Positions
    Title(s)UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences


    Collapse Biography 
    Collapse Education and Training
    San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis, San Francisco2022Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program
    University of California , San Francisco1995Neurology Residency
    Washington Hospital Center, Washington DC1992Internal Medicine Internship
    Uniformed Services University, Washington DCMD1991
    New York University, New YorkBA1986
    Collapse Awards and Honors
    American Academy of Neurology2020Mridha Spirit of Neurology Humanitarian Award
    UCSF Academy of Medical Educators2017Excellence in Teaching Award
    American Epilepsy Society2014National Service Award
    Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California2011Lifetime Commitment to Progress Award
    UCSF, Neurology Department2007Robert B. Layzer Award for Resident Teaching (The Golden Toe Award)
    United States Public Health Service2007USPHS Commissioned Officers Association Clinical Investigator Award
    United States Public Health Service2001Public Health Service Clinical Physician of the Year
    US Medicine2003Finalist, The Frank Brown Berry Prize in Federal Medicine
    Navajo Nation Indian Health Service2000Navajo Area Director's Award for Outstanding Health Care Provider

    Collapse Overview 
    Collapse Overview
    Dr. Karen L. Parko is a Professor of Clinical Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. She is a retired Commissioned Officer from the United States Public Health Service. Dr. Parko’s career focus has been on improving epilepsy care in disadvantaged populations. She is nationally recognized for her leadership in health care and health policy.

    Dr. Parko received a B.A. degree in Psychobiology from New York University and an M.D. degree from the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, MD. Following an internship in Internal Medicine at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC, she completed a residency in Neurology at UCSF.

    Dr. Parko worked in the Indian Health Service as a solo neurologist for ten years on the Navajo reservation, where she established the reservation’s first neurology clinic, providing adult and pediatric neurology services and neurodiagnostic testing to this population.

    Dr. Parko served from 2010-2015 as the inaugural National Director of the VA Epilepsy Centers of Excellence, whose mission is to improve the health and well-being of Veterans with epilepsy through the integration of clinical care, outreach, research, and education.

    Dr. Parko has been involved in disaster and humanitarian relief medicine, including the Anthrax prophylaxis of postal workers following 9/11 in 2001, as a physician team leader for the 2002 Winter Olympics, as the chief clinical operations officer for Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the 2007 California wildfires response. In 2000 she served as a medical officer aboard NOAA vessel McArthur during its Stenella Mission in the Eastern Pacific. During the Covid-19 pandemic she served as the team leader for the Scare Resource Allocation Team within the San Francisco VA Incident Command.

    Dr. Parko is a Fellow of both the American Academy of Neurology and the American Epilepsy Society. She is a founding member of the Functional Neurological Disorders Society. Dr. Parko served as an elected member to the International League Against Epilepsy North American Commission and currently serves on the ILAE Global Advocacy Council within which she chairs the Global Health Task Force.
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    Collapse Bibliographic 
    Collapse Publications
    Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Researchers can login to make corrections and additions, or contact us for help. to make corrections and additions.
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    Altmetrics Details PMC Citations indicate the number of times the publication was cited by articles in PubMed Central, and the Altmetric score represents citations in news articles and social media. (Note that publications are often cited in additional ways that are not shown here.) Fields are based on how the National Library of Medicine (NLM) classifies the publication's journal and might not represent the specific topic of the publication. Translation tags are based on the publication type and the MeSH terms NLM assigns to the publication. Some publications (especially newer ones and publications not in PubMed) might not yet be assigned Field or Translation tags.) Click a Field or Translation tag to filter the publications.
    1. Epilepsy-related stigma and attitudes: Systematic review of screening instruments and interventions - Report by the International League Against Epilepsy Task Force on Stigma in Epilepsy. Epilepsia. 2022 03; 63(3):598-628. Austin JK, Birbeck G, Parko K, Kwon CS, Fernandes PT, Braga P, Fiest KM, Ali A, Cross JH, de Boer H, Dua T, Haut SR, Jacoby A, Lorenzetti DL, Mifsud J, Moshé SL, Tripathi M, Wiebe S, Jette N. PMID: 34985766.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 1     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    2. Systematic review of frequency of felt and enacted stigma in epilepsy and determining factors and attitudes toward persons living with epilepsy-Report from the International League Against Epilepsy Task Force on Stigma in Epilepsy. Epilepsia. 2022 03; 63(3):573-597. Kwon CS, Jacoby A, Ali A, Austin J, Birbeck GL, Braga P, Cross JH, de Boer H, Dua T, Fernandes PT, Fiest KM, Goldstein J, Haut S, Lorenzetti D, Mifsud J, Moshe S, Parko KL, Tripathi M, Wiebe S, Jette N. PMID: 34985782.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 6     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    3. Validity testing in veterans with epileptic seizures and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures. Epilepsy Behav. 2020 10; 111:107246. Salinsky M, Binder L, Storzbach D, Parko K, Rutecki P, Goy E, Tadrous-Furnanz S. PMID: 32650290.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:    Fields:    Translation:Humans
    4. Epileptic and Nonepileptic Seizures after Traumatic Brain Injury. . 2019 Nov 20; 181-196. Hamilton HK, Parko PK. .
      View in: Publisher Site   Mentions:
    5. Health-related quality of life in Veterans with epileptic and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures. Epilepsy Behav. 2019 05; 94:72-77. Salinsky M, Rutecki P, Parko K, Goy E, Storzbach D, Markwardt S, Binder L, Joos S. PMID: 30893618.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 4     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    6. Psychiatric comorbidity and traumatic brain injury attribution in patients with psychogenic nonepileptic or epileptic seizures: A multicenter study of US veterans. Epilepsia. 2018 10; 59(10):1945-1953. Salinsky M, Rutecki P, Parko K, Goy E, Storzbach D, O'Neil M, Binder L, Joos S. PMID: 30144027.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 8     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    7. The primary prevention of epilepsy: A report of the Prevention Task Force of the International League Against Epilepsy. Epilepsia. 2018 05; 59(5):905-914. Thurman DJ, Begley CE, Carpio A, Helmers S, Hesdorffer DC, Mu J, Touré K, Parko KL, Newton CR. PMID: 29637551; PMCID: PMC7004820.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 25     Fields:    Translation:HumansPHPublic Health
    8. Joel M.ReiterDonnaAndrewsCharlotteReiterW. CurtLafranceJr.Taking control of your seizures: workbookDavidBarlowTreatments that work series2015Oxford University Press[Soft Cover 8.5 x 11, available as E-book, 336 pages ISBN: 9780199335015 Cost $49.95]. Epilepsy & Behavior. 2016 Aug 1; 61:277-278. Parko PK. .
      View in: Publisher Site   Mentions:
    9. Treating nonepileptic seizures: Therapist guide W. CurtLaFranceJr.Jeffrey PeterWinczeDavidBarlowTreatments that work series2015Oxford University Press[Soft Cover, 7×10inches, available as E-book, 192 pages, ISBN: 9780199307173, Cost $55.00]. Epilepsy & Behavior. 2016 Aug 1; 61:275-276. Parko PK. .
      View in: Publisher Site   Mentions:
    10. Attributing seizures to TBI: Validation of a brief patient questionnaire. Epilepsy Behav. 2016 Apr; 57(Pt A):141-144. Salinsky M, Parko K, Rutecki P, Boudreau E, Storzbach D. PMID: 26953843.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:    Fields:    Translation:Humans
    11. Patients optimizing epilepsy management via an online community: the POEM Study. Neurology. 2015 Jul 14; 85(2):129-36. Hixson JD, Barnes D, Parko K, Durgin T, Van Bebber S, Graham A, Wicks P. PMID: 26085605; PMCID: PMC4515038.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 17     Fields:    Translation:HumansCTClinical Trials
    12. Antiepileptic drug prescribing patterns in Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans with epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav. 2015 May; 46:133-9. Rohde NN, Baca CB, Van Cott AC, Parko KL, Amuan ME, Pugh MJ. PMID: 25911209.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 3     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    13. Clinical approach to posttraumatic epilepsy. Semin Neurol. 2015 Feb; 35(1):57-63. Rao VR, Parko KL. PMID: 25714868.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 16     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    14. Multicentric Castleman's disease with voltage-gated potassium channel antibody-positive limbic encephalitis: a case report. BMC Neurol. 2015 Feb 04; 15:4. Rao VR, Lim LE, Fong D, Garga NI, Parko KL. PMID: 25648431; PMCID: PMC4320461.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 1     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    15. Research using archival health care data: Let the buyer beware. Epilepsia. 2015 Feb; 56(2):321-2. Pugh MJ, Parko K. PMID: 25708477.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 3     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    16. Teleneurology in the US Veteran Health Administration. Teleneurology in Practice. 2015 Jan 1; 1-15. Davis DL, Garga GN, King KM, Chen CS, Parko PK. .
      View in: Publisher Site   Mentions:
    17. Managing common complex symptomatic epilepsies: tumors and trauma: american epilepsy society - 2012 annual course summary. Epilepsy Curr. 2013 Sep; 13(5):232-5. Burneo JG, Sirven JI, Kiesel LW, Vecht CJ, Jehi L, Chung SS, Uhm J, Politsky JM, Chang EF, Husain AM, Tatum WO, Meador KJ, Noe K, Hesdorffer DC, Herman ST, Wiebe S, Engel J, Schrader S, Parko KL, Dichter MA, Kwan P, Kossoff E, Sperling MR. PMID: 24348117; PMCID: PMC3854733.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 1  
    18. Seizures After TBI. Traumatic Brain Injury. 2012 Jan 1; 167-178. Betjemann BJ, Parko PK. .
      View in: Publisher Site   Mentions:
    19. Standards for epidemiologic studies and surveillance of epilepsy. Epilepsia. 2011 Sep; 52 Suppl 7:2-26. Thurman DJ, Beghi E, Begley CE, Berg AT, Buchhalter JR, Ding D, Hesdorffer DC, Hauser WA, Kazis L, Kobau R, Kroner B, Labiner D, Liow K, Logroscino G, Medina MT, Newton CR, Parko K, Paschal A, Preux PM, Sander JW, Selassie A, Theodore W, Tomson T, Wiebe S, ILAE Commission on Epidemiology. PMID: 21899536.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 231     Fields:    Translation:HumansPHPublic Health
    20. Epilepsy, sleep disturbances, and psychiatric consequences. Continuum (Minneap Minn). 2010 Dec; 16(6 Traumatic Brain Injury):110-27. Parko KL, Abrams GM, Campbell JS, Glass GA. PMID: 22810716.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:    Fields:    
    21. Disparities in epilepsy: report of a systematic review by the North American Commission of the International League Against Epilepsy. Epilepsia. 2009 Oct; 50(10):2285-95. Burneo JG, Jette N, Theodore W, Begley C, Parko K, Thurman DJ, Wiebe S, Task Force on Disparities in Epilepsy Care, North American Commission of the International League Against Epilepsy. PMID: 19732134; PMCID: PMC3181115.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 39     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    22. Prevalence of epilepsy and seizures in the Navajo Nation 1998-2002. Epilepsia. 2009 Oct; 50(10):2180-5. Parko K, Thurman DJ. PMID: 19490040.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 10     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    23. Electrodiagnostic features of hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies. Neurology. 2000 Jan 11; 54(1):40-4. Andersson PB, Yuen E, Parko K, So YT. PMID: 10636123.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 14     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    24. Botulism from peyote. N Engl J Med. 1998 Jul 16; 339(3):203-4. Hashimoto H, Clyde VJ, Parko KL. PMID: 9669923.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 4     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    25. Is the prescription really for selegiline? Am J Hosp Pharm. 1994 Apr 01; 51(7):930, 932. Alldredge BK, Heard SE, Parko K. PMID: 8017443.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:    Fields:    Translation:Humans
    26. Relationships between medial hypothalamic alpha 2-receptor binding, norepinephrine, and circulating glucose. Brain Res. 1986 Oct 08; 384(2):404-8. Chafetz MD, Parko K, Diaz S, Leibowitz SF. PMID: 3022870.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 3     Fields:    Translation:Animals
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